1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to advertising in electronic media such as the Internet and television and, more specifically, to systems for rewarding persons for viewing an advertisement and systems for gathering statistical or demographic information about persons who view an advertisement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacturers, retailers, service providers, politicians, citizens"" groups and others have long promoted their goods, services and causes by placing advertisements in electronic media. Electronic advertisements typically include some combination of dialogue, live action, graphics and text that is presented to the user via television, the Internet or other media. Advertisements on the Internet, which is the name currently given to the global computer network that allows users anywhere in the world to retrieve and exchange myriad types of multimedia information, typically consist of so-called xe2x80x9cbannersxe2x80x9d that are displayed on the user""s computer screen while the user is retrieving information. Banner advertisements generally do not involve user interaction, though certain banner advertisements may include hyperlinks that allow the user to access related information.
It is of importance to advertisers to gather statistical or demographic information relating to potential consumers of their goods or services so that the advertisers can target the persons most likely to be interested in their goods and services and so that the advertisers can adjust their goods and services to suit consumers"" tastes. For example, advertisers would be interested in the age of persons to whom a certain product or service is of interest.
Regardless of the advertising medium, advertisers consider it of utmost importance for the advertisement to attract a viewer""s attention, because an advertisement that is not viewed by the potential consumers or other target audience is of little value to the advertiser. To attract the attention of potential viewers, advertisers may use attractive graphics or live action and engaging dialogue or music. Nevertheless, because they are continually bombarded by such advertisements, many potential viewers have become resistant to advertisers"" techniques to attract them. A system for encouraging potential viewers to view advertisements on the Internet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,210, issued to Goldhaber et al. A user of the Internet is given the opportunity to set up an account, which is credited with some amount of valuable credit in compensation for the user viewing an advertisement the user selects from an array of choices. The advertisements are of the type typically presented via the Internet in the sense that the user passively reads or listens to the information presented in the advertisement. The system cannot ensure that a user actually reads the advertisement. A user could easily ignore the substance of the advertisement and merely follow the required steps by rote in order to receive credit.
It would be desirable to provide a system that rewards users for viewing advertisements, is more engaging for users and thus more likely to maintain their interest; improves the likelihood that users absorb the substance of the advertisements, and provides useful feedback to the advertisers regarding consumer preferences and demographics. These problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by the present invention in the manner described below.
The present invention relates to a system and method for compensating users for responding to advertisements in an interactive manner. Advertisers, such as manufacturers, retailers, service providers, associations, clubs and others who advertise via conventional electronic media, devise interactive advertisements that pose questions for users and generate further questions in response to users"" previous answers. Through this question-and-answer-format, the advertiser learns more about the user, and the user in turn learns more about the advertiser. The advertisements are stored in a database on a central computer operated by a company that publishes the advertisements via a suitable wide-area interactive electronic medium, such as the Internet or an interactive television system. The company may receive fees from the advertisers for performing its publishing and processing services.
In accordance with the method, a user establishes communication between his or her own computer and the remote, central processing computer via a suitable wide-area communications medium. The term xe2x80x9ccomputerxe2x80x9d is used in this patent specification to refer to any suitable interactive electronic device that can communicate remotely, and is not limited to a conventional, general-purpose personal computer. Similarly, the communications medium is not limited to the global, wide-area network commonly referred to as the Internet. Although in an exemplary embodiment of the invention described in this patent specification the computer is a conventional personal computer communicating via that sub-system of the Internet currently referred to as the World Wide Web, other embodiments may include other devices communicating via other interactive media, such as a so-called set-top box communicating via an interactive cable television or satellite television network.
The user sets up an account on the remote computer by inputting certain requested information. This information may include, for example, the user""s name, residence address, age, and any other demographic information that an advertiser may wish to know about the persons who view its advertisements. Whenever the user desires to view advertisements, the user logs into the remote computer in a suitable manner that identifies the user and allows the remote computer to determine the account corresponding to that user.
The user then selects one of the advertisements stored in the database in a suitable manner. For example, the remote computer may display on the user""s computer a list of advertisement titles, descriptive phrases or slogans for the user, and the user may select one of them. Alternatively, for example, the remote computer may provide a directory or a keyword search engine that the user can use to find an advertisement relating to certain subject matter that interests the user.
In accordance with the advertisement selected by the user, the remote computer displays questions for the user. The database includes a list of questions corresponding to each advertisement and an algorithm for selecting the next question in response to the user""s answer to one or more previous questions. In other words, at least some of the questions are dynamically generated in response to users"" answers. Such interactivity maximizes the likelihood that a user pays attention to the advertisement because the user is actively involved in the process. In certain embodiments of the invention, the questions may further be generated in response to the user""s demographics. For example, a certain question may be asked only if the user is under 30 years of age and answered xe2x80x9cYesxe2x80x9d to the previous question. The algorithm ensures that the sequence of questions and answers, although dynamically generated, is finite in length. When the user responds to the final question of the sequence, the remote computer credits the user""s account.
The credit represents value or consideration forth user having answered the questions. The user can later redeem the credits in a suitable manner. For example, in certain embodiments of the invention the user can periodically request a cash payment representing the credit balance of his or her account. In other embodiments, the user may receive a sweepstakes entry or certificates or coupons that he or she can redeem for goods or services provided by the advertiser or others. In still other embodiments, the credit may be used electronically in a manner analogous to cash, i.e., to purchase goods or services via an electronic transaction, and the user""s account is debited as part of the transaction.
From time to time, the remote computer transmits information to each advertiser in response to users having viewed and interacted with the advertiser""s advertisement. In certain embodiments of the invention, the information may be the answers themselves. The advertiser can use the information in any suitable manner. In other embodiments, the information may be statistical information that the remote computer computes in response to the answers and the user demographics. For example, an advertiser may wish to know the average age or the total number of persons of a certain gender, city of residence, political affiliation, or occupation, who viewed its advertisement, or similar demographic statistical information of all persons who answered xe2x80x9cYesxe2x80x9d to a certain question or whose answers followed a certain predetermined pattern. Such information is highly useful to advertisers because it aids them in targeting their advertisements and responding to consumer preferences.
The foregoing, together with other features and advantages of the present invention, will become more apparent when referring to the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.